If you live in Camillus, Clay, DeWitt, Manlius or Otisco — or merely drive through those towns — you are likely to notice a change this winter. Onondaga County roads may be covered in snow and slush, while town roads may be scraped and salted down to the pavement.

That’s because those five towns decided the county isn’t paying enough for town highway crews to plow the county’s roads.

Worse, you’re likely to witness this absurd sight: town plow drivers lifting their blades as they drive over snow-covered county roads.

Deputy County Executive Matt Millea insists the public shouldn’t see any difference in road conditions. We’ll see, as Onondaga County Department of Transportation crews stretch to cover about 60 miles of road the towns used to plow.

Of all the services government provides, keeping the roads passable during our harsh Central New York winters ranks among the most important — so important that we have multiple layers of government performing essentially the same function.

Recognizing this, and faced with budget constraints, County Executive Joanie Mahoney is trying to push snowplowing down to the local level. Last winter, the county paid the towns $5,910 per mile to plow county roads.

This year, the county is offering more — $6,335 a mile, or $6,900 a mile if there’s more than 151 inches of snow. But that’s still less than the $8,152 a mile it costs the county’s own Department of Transportation to plow. And it’s a whole lot less than the $10,575 a mile the state pays the county to plow state roads. (The state demands more materials, time and record-keeping, Millea says.)

Those costs pale in comparison to Manlius, where it costs $12,000 a mile to plow town roads. Supervisor Ed Theobald says the town has higher costs for maintenance, equipment and supplies, and because the town plows about twice as frequently. Perhaps taxpayers in Manlius would think twice if they knew they could get adequate snow clearing for a third to half what other municipalities pay.

Both sides have a point: The county is paying towns less than it pays itself for plowing, and the towns haven’t justified their higher costs to the county. Too bad they couldn’t meet somewhere in the middle.

Soon enough, drivers will know if they’re getting their money’s worth from our many layers of government.